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Jack Carr (2020) - Preparedness and Purpose · The Joe Rogan Recap

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Joe Rogan recap. Today we're diving deep into Joe
• 0:04
  Rogan's conversation with Jack Carr on JRE Jag 1467.
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  Yeah, that was a really interesting one.
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  Our mission here is basically to pull out the most, you know,
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  insightful bits, the surprising stuff for you, the listener.
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  Exactly. Think of it like a shortcut,
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  getting you straight to the heart of what they talked about
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  based on the transcript. For sure, we're looking at,
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  well, Jack Carr's whole journey right from the Navy Seal's to
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  becoming an author and of course their takes on big things
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  happening like the COVID pandemic was a major topic.
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  Right. We want to go beyond just
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  summarizing and really unpack the why behind their points.
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  So we'll track Carr switch from military life to thriller
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  writer. Look at the real world stuff
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  behind his books. Yeah, and their ideas on
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  preparedness, personal responsibility, the pandemics
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  impact all that. OK, let's get into it.
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  One of the first things that kind of stood out was Rogan
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  being upfront. He didn't know Carr's books
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  initially, but then he listened to the audio book of The
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  Terminal List. Narrated by Ray Porter.
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  Yeah. And he was hooked.
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  Praise the narration, even made a funny comment about the female
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  voices. But the point was the story
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  grabbed him. It really did, and it sets
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  things up nicely. It also connects to Carr's
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  background, doesn't it? His mom was a librarian.
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  Yeah, he was a reader from way back.
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  Instilled that love of reading early on, and he mentioned how
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  back in the early 80s there just wasn't much out there about
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  seals. Not accurately anyway.
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  Right, that kind of void. You can see how maybe that
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  planted a seed from later on. Totally.
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  He even called the authors he read back then his professors
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  and storytelling. That's fascinating.
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  So you've got those early influences plus his actual, you
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  know, academic study of warfare. And then the practical
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  experience, Afghanistan, Iraq, it all feeds into the writing.
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  It's not just tactics, it's narrative built on, well,
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  everything. Exactly.
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  And the timing worked out too, right.
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  His writing career kind of ramped up just as he was
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  transitioning out of the Navy. He mentioned that process
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  leaving the military sounded pretty involved.
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  Yeah, surprisingly bureaucratic, he said.
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  Like a whole year of paperwork and meetings.
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  You can imagine that time gave him space to think.
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  Maybe start plotting? And here's where it gets really
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  interesting for the books themselves, the characters.
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  Oh yeah, he said. A lot of them are based on real
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  people. John Dudley Barklow even brands
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  he likes Black Rifle Coffee Icon 4 by fours Sitka gear.
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  It really blurs that line between fiction and reality,
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  doesn't it? Totally.
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  And he described himself as a gear guy.
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  Always has been. That comes through loud and
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  clear in the detail adds. That layer of authenticity,
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  people who know that stuff, they pick up on it.
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  Absolutely. And beyond the gear, he talked
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  about the emotional side, how writing lets him use real
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  feelings, real emotions from his experiences, but in a fictional
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  context. Like a way to process it?
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  Yeah, he said. It was kind of therapeutic.
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  Avoids having to do direct interviews or filter things
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  constantly. He just puts the feeling into
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  the story. That's powerful.
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  OK, so how did he actually get published?
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  His approach sounded unconventional.
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  It was. He basically admitted he didn't
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  do a ton of research on agents. Really.
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  Yeah. Just kind of trusted his gut
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  when he found the right one, which, you know, maybe speaks to
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  that. SEAL decisiveness, trusting your
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  instincts. Makes sense.
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  He also mentioned a big influence was Stephen
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  Pressfield's The War of Art. The idea of a one word theme.
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  Right. For the first book, The Terminal
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  List, it was just revenge. He kept that focus.
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  Which is such a powerful anchor, you know.
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  Keep it simple, keep it direct. And he gave himself a deadline
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  one year for that first book. And stuck to it.
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  Discipline. His agent apparently didn't give
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  much feedback initially, but then the editing, That was
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  intense. Four months.
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  Shows the importance of that stage refining it.
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  Definitely. And he had this really
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  disciplined routine, balancing the writing with workouts,
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  family life. Speaking of workouts, they got
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  into that physical fitness those early morning sessions.
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  Hobie Darling's group in Park City sounds intense.
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  Yeah, but rewarding, it sounds like, though Carr mentioned his
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  routine had to change after the first book came out.
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  Publicity calls. Right, the demands shift.
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  They kind of bonded over adapting to late work schedules
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  too. Rogan with comedy, car with
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  writing different fields, similar challenge.
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  Car also had this interesting analogy for dealing with people
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  online, like running a general store.
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  Yeah, in a small town you get all sorts coming through the
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  door. Good way to think about online
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  interactions I guess. Keeps it in perspective.
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  And they both agreed, you know, arguing online, Yeah, pretty
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  pointless compared to talking face to face.
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  Such a time suck, right? And time's valuable.
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  Totally, Carl also said. Just getting into the SEAL
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  Teams, the difficulty of that, that was motivation enough.
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  The challenge itself. Exactly, and they discussed how
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  SEAL training evolved. It wasn't always the same.
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  Right move from just heavy lifting and running.
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  To more CrossFit functional fitness stuff.
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  Because of the real missions, mountains, different terrain,
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  the training had to catch up to the reality.
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  Makes perfect sense. They even mentioned tech like
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  RFID chips during hell week to monitor core body temp.
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  Wild Stuff shows the extremes and how they try to manage risk,
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  gather data. OK.
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  So then the conversation shifted pretty significantly actually,
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  to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yeah, that took up a good chunk
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  of time. Rogan kicked it off with
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  concerns about government tracking.
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  He brought up South Korea as an example.
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  And that just opened the door to bigger questions.
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  Yeah, right. Personal liberty versus
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  collective safety. Definitely.
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  And a lot of skepticism came through about politicians, The
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  Who, information from other countries.
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  Just a general feeling of distrust maybe, or at least
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  difficulty knowing what to trust.
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  Yeah, they both talked about that.
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  Hard to figure out reliable info even from doctors or the CDC
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  sometimes. They compared flu deaths to
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  COVID deaths, talked about lockdowns, social distancing,
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  the huge impact. And remember, Carr had
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  researched infectious diseases for his fourth novel,
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  Weaponization History. All right, Unit 731 Soviet
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  stuff. So he came at it with some
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  existing knowledge. Which probably shaped his view.
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  He made that key point about the difference between COVID and
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  flu. The incubation period.
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  Exactly. Much longer asymptomatic spread
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  that made it so much harder to contain.
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  He called the virus an insurgent, adapting, spreading
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  silently. It's a chilling analogy, like
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  that virus video game they mentioned where low lethality
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  but long incubation wins. Spreads everywhere before you
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  know. It and they did discuss the
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  Wuhan lab origin theory. Yeah, referencing A Newsweek
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  article. Yeah, pointing out the proximity
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  to the wet market, the lab's existence, past safety issues.
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  But framing it as, you know, questions being raised, not
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  definitive proof, but part of the conversation that was
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  happening. And concerns about the WH O's
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  relationship with China. Potential filtering of
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  information. Rogan even threw out there, you
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  know, maybe similar research happens in the US, too, broader
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  questions about transparency. Carr's point about China
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  initially saying no person to person transmission.
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  Right. That highlights how crucial
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  accurate early information is in a pandemic.
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  The consequences when it's wrong?
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  Huge. So moving from the global scale
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  to the personal preparedness during the pandemic.
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  Big shift in mindset for a lot of people it seemed.
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  Rogan noticed the gun sales right lines at California gun
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  stores. Even anti gun folks wanting him.
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  Yeah, and Google searches for hunting went way up.
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  It's like a primal response to uncertainty isn't it?
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  Wanting to be more self-sufficient.
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  Totally. Grocery store shortages didn't
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  help. Really drove home the need for
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  alternatives Carr talked about. Hunting and sharing the meet
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  with friends, that communal aspect.
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  Yeah, the pandemic really ripped back that thin veil of
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  civilization, as they put it, showed vulnerabilities.
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  Financial preparedness came up to savings getting advice.
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  Crucial part of resilience. And interestingly, they noted
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  how the pandemic might have pushed people to rethink things.
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  Careers, pursuing dreams. A catalyst for change, maybe
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  could be. OK, let's circle back to Carr's
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  writing a bit. He decided early on to write
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  multiple books. Yeah, inspired by John Grisham's
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  experience, apparently. Plan ahead.
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  And his research trips sound incredible.
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  Mozambique, Russia. Very different experiences in
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  each place, he said. Mozambique people were open,
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  Russia more guarded, suspicious. Those kinds of details, those
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  interactions, they definitely feed the authenticity of the
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  books. That Russia bear hunt story.
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  Wow. Yeah, tracking a wounded brown
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  bear with a dodgy shotgun sounds terrifying.
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  And the cultural bit about not eating brown bear there compared
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  to black bear or Mountain Lion here.
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  Little details like that adds so much texture and surprisingly he
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  found Russian hunting rags quite science based.
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  Interesting he used Russian vehicles and stuff from that
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  trip in the novels too. Yeah, he recommended a couple of
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  documentaries too. Werner Herzog's Happy People,
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  Life in the Taiga and a Vice Guide shows where he pulls
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  inspiration from. So this led to a discussion
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  about like fate versus hard work, manifestation versus just
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  grinding it out. Yeah, that balance, how much is
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  visualizing, how much is just doing the work.
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  The story of Chris Pratt finding the book is pretty wild Through
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  a friend, right? Yeah, a mutual friend who is a
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  former Seal Pratt read it, loved it, wanted to make it.
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  And Carr already had Antoine Fuqua in mind as the director.
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  He did, which is amazing because Fuqua is directing the series.
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  Carr called it eerie. Like it was meant to be, almost.
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  But Carr's view is clear. Success isn't just luck.
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  It's passion, focus, energy and doing the work relentlessly.
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  He had that line about authors complaining about publishers.
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  The undeniable make work so good they can't ignore it.
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  And he's proactive himself, right?
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  Learning marketing from Black Rifle Coffee, places like that.
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  Total authenticity matters. He pointed to Evan Hayfer at
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  Black Rifle. Genuinely loves coffee.
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  Just like Carr genuinely loves writing these stories, that
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  passion comes through. Yeah, and then the little detail
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  about Reese, his main character, preferring Black Rifle coffee in
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  the book. Nice touch.
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  OK, so digging into the military roots again, early influences,
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  Dick Marcinco's books. Rogue warrior, Yeah, Big impact
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  back then. And the Iran hostage crisis,
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  Operation Eagle Claw, the failure there.
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  He said that was a big moment, showed vulnerabilities led to
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  changes, formation of Delta Force, improvements in special
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  OPS. Those hard lessons learned at
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  Desert One were critical for how SOCOM evolved.
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  And Carr brings that lived experience.
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  That's the authenticity, right? Compared to someone just
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  researching it? Exactly, He mentioned putting
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  tiny real details in, like a specific shot not taken in Iraq,
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  weaving it into the fiction. Adds that grit and again that
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  therapeutic element of writing about it.
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  Which brings us to some heavier stuff.
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  They discussed the ethics specifically around
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  interrogation, torture. Yeah, Cars books explore that
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  dark side. Hunter versus hunted.
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  Sometimes the protagonist has to go there.
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  But they talked about the real world discussions within the
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  SEAL teams, battlefield interrogation techniques,
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  setting boundaries. The importance of the moral high
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  ground, not targeting civilians deliberately, that's the
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  difference. But defining torture is tricky.
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  Sleep deprivation, stress positions, waterboarding and
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  sear training. Where's the line?
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  And how it gets politicized. How the enemy uses accusations
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  for propaganda recruitment. Right.
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  It's complex tactical effectiveness versus the damage
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  it does to the bigger mission. Public perception.
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  Leaders have to constantly reinforce those ethical
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  standards, Carr emphasized, especially under pressure.
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  And the contrast in how U.S. forces treat captives versus how
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  enemies do? It's a core value difference.
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  Carr aims for thoughtful violence in his writing, he
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  said, Not just action for action's sake.
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  There's a purpose behind it. Seems like a way to explore
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  those difficult questions within the narrative.
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  Finally, they touched on current events analysis using that
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  military lens. Carr's take on the USS Lido.
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  Roosevelt, Captain, being relieved.
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  Yeah, he don't just accept the official story, he questioned it
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  focused on the captain's responsibility to the crew
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  facing COVID on a ship. How do you even do social
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  distancing on a carrier? Isolate cases.
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  Huge challenge. And Carr's special operations
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  background probably gives him that more independent, critical
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  perspective, less tied to traditional Navy thinking,
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  perhaps. He stressed authentic
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  assessment, telling leaders the truth, not just what they want
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  to hear, Accountability. OK, so wrapping this all up,
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  bringing it back to you, the listener, what's the take away?
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  Well, this deep dive into Rogan and Carr gives you this really
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  unique perspective where military experience,
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  storytelling, and navigating today's world all meet.
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  Yeah, from the intense realism in Carr's books, which comes
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  straight from his SEAL days, to their pretty frank talk about
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  preparedness, the pandemic. It's insight you don't always
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  get from headlines. Definitely.
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  Carr's own story shows what passion and frankly, sheer hard
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  work can achieve on an unconventional path.
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  And their reflections on current events.
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  It really nudges you towards thinking critically.
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  Being a bit more self reliant maybe?
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  We hope this deep dive gave you that shortcut to being well
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  informed. Not just the gist, but memorable
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  details. Maybe a few aha moments.
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  For sure, And if you want to dig deeper into Carr's world, his
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  website officialjackcar.com has tons on the gear, knives,
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  weapons from the books. He's also on Instagram and X,
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  formerly Twitter at Jet Car USA. So here's something to think
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  about. We live in this flood of
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  information, right? How can you apply this kind of
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  deep dive, this critical thinking, to the sources you see
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  every day? What surprising things might you
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  uncover if you dug a little deeper into your own interests?